Thomas Meunier

Is he genuinely good on the ball or merely has end product because we aren't creating the chances PSG do?
 
Copa Mundial said:
@Devil may care, an excellent reply and some really valid points. Perhaps I was a bit hasty with my buy at all costs mentality. I guess I'm just so disillusioned with the decline of the Utd team that I'm desperate to snap up anyone who is delivering and would be of long term benefit to our team.

I also take on board the fact that many of those good youngsters I mentioned do play with some extremely gifted players. It is easy to knock the likes of Rashford and Martial but they are equally surrounded by such mediocrity.

What I find absolutely incredible however is when we objectively look at the quality (or rather lack of it) in our squad it's unbelievable how far that quality has regressed. 10 years ago it would be unthinkable that we would have a front line so technically incapable as we have now, or a converted left winger captaining us from right back, or a CF that incredibly cannot control the ball or amazingly the fact that for years we've had nobody that can simply deliver a decent cross from out wide.

I'm not arrogant enough to think we have a god given right to always be the best, but just from a succession planning perspective it's outrageous what we have become, that is a team so full of average talent and mediocrity it's beyond belief. I think only the most loyal and die hard Utd fans would hand on heart say we realistically had a team anywhere near where it should be.

Therefore as much as I don't want to see Pogba and DDG leave I believe that is the only way we'll be able to fund this huge rebuilding project that will get Utd delivering again. I just hope if we do spend big we spend much more wisely than we have spent in the last 4-5 years.
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I get where you are coming from, our decline post Fergie has been stark, and it's been down to ineptitude rather than overall lack of investment. With the owners we have we'll never spend like Barca and Real but we must have shelled out north of half a billion since Fergie retired and look what we have to show for it, a worse team than the one he assembled with a lot less money.

As you say it's crazy to think we've spent so much and yet have found ourselves in a spot where we don't have a forward player that can hold the ball up, we have nobody that can cross, we have CB's that are nowhere near good enough on the ball and overall yet are on the verge of a testimonial, we've brought in half a dozen midfielders and still have no balance in there and regularly get overran, and on top of that the coup de grace of Ashley Young, a has-been winger as our RB and Captain.

It's a shambles and I agree that we may have to lose Pogba at least to fund an overall team rebuild, as so much is needed in this squad right now, and that's why I feel that you're right that we need to spend wisely and to me that means some proven players so that Martial and Rashford, Dalot, Greenwood, Garner, Gomes etc....have a team which they can evolve into, as right now we don't have a core team to give the platform for younger, inexperienced players to shine.
 
NoPace said:
He's not great defensively and signing a RB for his age 28 season seems like a dumb idea, particularly if Rashford (who can't head a ball yet) is our 9, but he'd also clearly be our best RB by a fair bit and if we don't sign Sancho, odds are whatever RW we get won't be a traditional winger and we'll need dangerous width going forward, which he'll provide.

My sense is there's a similar quality 23-25 year old RB out there for the same transfer fee and less wages, but tough to trust our club to find them. If we're spending 250M this summer, 10% of it on a RB who can give us a B+ for the next 2 seasons seems sensible even if it's not the sort of thing we should be doing in a macro sense.

We've really become Inter Milan so quickly, eh?
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Ricardo Pereira
 
People seem to be shooting down every player we're linked with who isn't Aaron wan bissaka. There's no evidence to suggest wan bissaka wants a move here and we've no idea how much palace will want. The talk for zaha is as much as 80m so potentially they'll want quite a bit for awb as well. People are putting a lot of eggs in that basket. Just because you like the look of a player doesn't automatically mean you'll get them. There's also the issue of creativity which is a big problem for us. Meunier and trippier can cross and get decent numbers of assists. They'll create goals even if they're not as good defensively.
 
Meunier & Toby would do wonders for our side & at those prices leave us with shed loads of cash to spend on another CB like de Ligt. Defence would finally be sorted for first time since SAF left.

De Ligt & Sancho would be very pricey, especially as we’d have to blow every other interested party out of the water with de Ligt but my lord it’ll still be an incredible & somewhat ”cheap” transfer window that would fix the majority of our glaring issues.
 
I'm also all for this. The chance to spend £50m on him and Toby to improve our defense and playing out from the back is a complete no brainer. Can we get better players than Meunier and Alderweireld? absolutely but in this market it would cost us between £100-£120m to get the best targets possible for RB and CB. Meunier and Toby provide excellent experience and value for £50m.

IMO we need to save our big bucks for the midfield and forward signings, these are the areas we should go all out for the best we can. We arguably need 6 signings this season, there is just no way we can get the best of the best it would cost over £400m. We need to be strategic and prioritise our transfers.
 
I wouldn't mind him, plus he'll be a reasonable price. He apparently also likes the club.
 
For Just 90 mil we can get MeUnier+Toby+Minalos or Milenković = excellent upgrade on what we have right now
 
Fosu-Mens said:
No real downside and the transfer makes sense. And that is why we will go for someone else. Can see Woody spend £50m on Trippier.
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Trippier is shit. I hope to God we go no where near him. Imagine paying through the nose for a Spurs reject?:rolleyes:

Meunier is cheaper, more experienced and his transfer to us would be much smoother than having to deal with Levy.
 
Meunier is an established international who can bring good experience and ability to the club both attacking and defending.

Wan Bissaka is a young prospect who defends well but is very raw, and presently has the attacking ability of Valencia (2019). This weakness will be exposed quickly and cruelly at a top club.

Clearly Meunier is the better option.
 
Wan-Bissaka is 21 and currently one of the best right backs in the Premier League while Meunier is 27 and currently a squad player who doesn't stand out in Ligue 1. He will be the cheaper option for sure, but there's a reason for that.
 
settembrini said:
Wan-Bissaka is 21 and currently one of the best right backs in the Premier League while Meunier is 27 and currently a squad player who doesn't stand out in Ligue 1. He will be the cheaper option for sure, but there's a reason for that.
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You could be correcr about Meunier, but have you noticed how poor Wan-Bissaka is on the ball? Not sure that is what the team requires and us fans will be very annoyed as it doesnt move us forwards performance wise.
 
He’s available cheap, just get him. Minimum requirement is a decent right back not a top right back because we need to strengthening other position like DM, CB & attackers.
 
Icemav said:
You could be correcr about Meunier, but have you noticed how poor Wan-Bissaka is on the ball? Not sure that is what the team requires and us fans will be very annoyed as it doesnt move us forwards performance wise.
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I think his ability on the ball is a weakness but it's not as bad as is often made out and one that can be improved with coaching. I would compare Wan-Bissaka now to Walker when he was at Tottenham. Everyone knew that Walker was a fantastic athlete and strong defensively but people would always criticise his ability on the ball and it was seen as almost a joke when Guardiola paid £50m for him and great business for Tottenham because the technically better Trippier could replace him. Two years later and Walker has been a key part of a City side that has dominated since he joined them and nobody ever talks about him being weak on the ball anymore because he's improved under Guardiola, his passing accuracy is 90% this season, significantly higher than it was at Tottenham. Meanwhile if you read Tottenham forums they complain constantly about losing Walker and want Trippier sold because he's slow and weak defensively.

Of course there's always a risk that Wan-Bissaka never improves at all and we are stuck with just an incredibly good defender for a while but even that would be such an improvement on Young I would be happy :)
 
onemanarmy said:
He isn't vocal.

And I hate to burst your bubble, but he's a converted winger actually. I think it was only his last year at Club Brugge where he started playing full back. His attacking play is better than his defensive, for Belgium he plays as a very attacking wing back. That said, I'd still think he'd be a big upgrade from Young.
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Nah, was earlier than that. Wilmots already played him as an RB for the NT as far back as 2013 in a friendly against Colombia. I remember because Cuadrado ran circles around him. Was in contention with Vanden Borre that season to be Alderweireld's (the RB at the time) understudy at WC 2014 but missed out.

But yes defensively he is a question mark. Especially in a back four.

Still i would pick him over AWB. Rightback is not the position you need to splash big money on when the whole team needs an overhaul.
 
IrishRedDevil said:
She's a very angry, large, jet-black Maine Coon. She regularly hears me screaming at the TV when Young is playing, so she will probably accept a free transfer to put me out of my misery.
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Large and angry huh? Can she play the DM role? Probably more useful than Matic...
 
settembrini said:
Wan-Bissaka is 21 and currently one of the best right backs in the Premier League while Meunier is 27 and currently a squad player who doesn't stand out in Ligue 1. He will be the cheaper option for sure, but there's a reason for that.
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Last thing we need are too young players who make errors or too old players who are past it. Since when is 27 years a downside? It's the perfect age.

Meunier is the right age, cheap and being a squad player at PSG doesn't mean he is bad. Fact is, Neymar's clique is quite powerful at that club and Alves won't be displaced that easily.
 
Kapardin said:
Last thing we need are too young players who make errors or too old players who are past it. Since when is 27 years a downside? It's the perfect age.

Meunier is the right age, cheap and being a squad player at PSG doesn't mean he is bad. Fact is, Neymar's clique is quite powerful at that club and Alves won't be displaced that easily.
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I'm not saying Meunier is too old, rather I'm agreeing with you, he is at his 'peak' and his peak is a squad player who doesn't stand out in Ligue 1. Wan-Bissaka is not just standing out more in a stronger league but his defensive contribution to his team is literally amongst the best of any player in Europe. And he's doing it at 21 which means he is probably some way off his peak.

Btw it's Kehrer who actually gets the most playing time at right back for PSG ahead of both Meunier and Alves. So it's not Brazilian bias that is stopping Meunier from being first choice.
 
Available for £25m? No chance it's happening then. We will probably chase AWB all summer and either pay some ridiculous amount or end up extending Young's contract again. Not even sure which one is more likely to happen.
 
dove said:
Available for £25m? No chance it's happening then. We will probably chase AWB all summer and either pay some ridiculous amount or end up extending Young's contract again. Not even sure which one is more likely to happen.
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Far more potential and would play for the shirt unlike PSG mercenaries. Don't care if he say he's a Utd fan. Don't want
 
Inigo Montoya said:
Far more potential and would play for the shirt unlike PSG mercenaries. Don't care if he say he's a Utd fan. Don't want
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So because he's English, he's guaranteed to work harder for the club than an actual fan?
 
Meunier and Alderweireld are national team colleagues as well and have a lot of experience playing together not the right hand side of the national team.

A back four of Meunier Alderweireld Lindelof Shaw would be ok for next season.

We also have tinkered with a diamond formation and 3-5-2 both of which Meunier would suit.
 
We’re in a proper rebuild and good value experience is probably more appropriate than expensive raw talent at this stage, especially at full back.
 
I’d like him to come in. He’s experienced, decent in defence and attack and a good crosser. He’s not gonna set the world alight but he will solidify the right back area for a few years until we can see if Dalit is good enough or not.
The bulk of our money could be better spent elsewhere and I think we’d get rinsed for Wan Bissaka.
 
This would be perfect. He can play both sides and wouldn't block Dalot & Laird in the long term.
 
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